A regular update on the life and times of John Hanby’s Newstead Bonsai Centre……..
Topical Times – Beginners Two January 26th 2014
We recently concluded our first Beginners Course of 2014 with seven students attending day two on Sunday 26th January. Day two consists largely of students styling/creating their own bonsai from a piece of nursery material……with our help of course. This was followed by a discussion on the practicalities of feeding,watering, position, pests and diseases, etc.
One student arrived with his own piece of raw material whilst the other six duly selected from our extensive varied stock. The students removed some soil to expose the nebari of the tree. Styling options were then discussed with John for each tree in turn. Once a decision had been made branches surplus to requirements were removed…..without a general anaesthetic (for the students!!!) Heart wrenching decisions simply had to be made!
Regular students Derek, Len and Ian then helped the students to wire all the remaining branches……for most of them this was their first wiring experience and they all did a great job. The quality of the help first class as always.
John was then left to position the wired trees in the afternoon session. The result was very satisfying and all the students opted to purchase their trees and take them home. I hope we will be seeing them again on future classes. The main thing is that they all have a good grounding and experience of the basics to continue and become successfully engrossed in this fascinating hobby we all love.
The pictures below show the before and after pictures for each tree. The middle picture shows the tree after the initial pruning of unwanted branches.
Our next Beginners Course will take place in March so if you are interested in learning the basics of bonsai and creating your own tree like one of these below please contact the nursery for further information or to enrol.
